will jo john boehner then allow that same piece of legislation to come up up ffor a vote in the h of representatives or not? will there be any changes required by the house of representatives? then there's a conference committee and it has to go back to the senate. there could be a delay. if they want to do this quickly, though, and there's some assumption that they want to do it quickly, it looks like they will be able to do it. here comes the president right now. >> thank you. please, everybody have a seat. well, good afternoon, everybody. welcome to the white house. >> nau fthank you for having us. >> now, i realize that the last thing you want to hear on new year's eve is another speech from me, but i do need to talk about the progress that's being made in congress today. for the last few days, leaders in both parties have been working toward an agreement that will prevent a middle class tax hike from hitting 98% of all americans starting tomorrow. preventing that tax hike has been my top priority, because the last thing folks like the folks up here on this stage can aafford righ